"I take it that the creature is dead?" Pam drawled as she took in Artemis' appearance.
"No," she replied happily. "I went to stop in with the King's representatives to let them know that I would be in their territory. One of their vamps was dumb enough to attack me for killing her maker back in 1820-something, so I sent her to meet him."
"Have you made any progress in the hunt for the manticore?"
Artemis shook her head. "I had an idea that I came here to run by Eric, but it looks like he's off in another universe."
"How observant of you," Pam said dryly. "He will be right in another hour or so. And speaking English again."
"I need to go take a shower. Text me when he's back to normal."
I kept looking from Eric to Pam to Artemis' retreating figure as I tried to wrap my head around how different this was from the usual doings of Fangtasia. Artemis had to call my name three times before I heard it.
"Yeah?"
"I hope you don't mind," she yelled from the end of the hallway. "But I stopped by your house and took some of the clothes out of your hamper. I need them to have your scent."
I frowned. "How do you know where I live?"
I didn't get a reply. Somehow I wasn't really expecting to get one, either. It was 4 AM by the time Eric was back to his regular self. He glanced around the room and sniffed the air again. "Aria was here?"
"Aria is dead," Pam replied gleefully. "And a good riddance to her, if you're asking me. Artemis took the liberty of killing her in the messiest possible way. I'm sure Victor is ecstatic."
Eric shook his head and glowered at the table. I felt like there was more to this story than I was getting, but I had enough sense not to poke my nose into vampire business. They had a habit of biting it off if you did.
"What did Arty say?" Eric asked wearily. "And did you get into contact with Felipe de Castro like I asked you to?"
Pam folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "You never told me to call him. And Arty is at home cleaning up and wants one of us to text her when we are ready and sober enough for her visit."
Eric slammed his fist down on the table hard enough to make it jump on my side. I squeaked in surprise and involuntarily slid a few inches back in my chair.
"Pam," he hissed. "I told you to call the King last night directly after closing."
"Yes," Pam snapped back. "You told me to call the King. I summoned Bubba."
"He recovered from Katrina?" I blurted out. I was fond of Bubba for more reasons than just his famous face.
Eric stood and seemed to tower over Pam. She dropped her gaze as an obvious display of subservience as Eric pushed past her and stalked into his office. Somehow I didn't think that paperwork was going to put him in a better mood, so I resumed my seat and waited for whoever was coming to just show up already. I was exhausted, and the repeated attempts on my life didn't make anything better.
"Yes," Pam responded belatedly. "Bubba is as normal as he will ever get. I don't know how long it will take for him to arrive here, but I'm afraid that I may have to send him away as soon as he does."
I patted her on the shoulder and gave her a thin smile. "It was an easy mistake. You shouldn't blame yourself. Eric is just being moody."
"Moody?"
I pursed my lips. "Bipolar?"
"I do not know that phrase either."
I mentally rolled my eyes. Sometimes it seemed ridiculously simple for things to get lost in translation. I suppose that happens when most of your closest associates have been dead for a few hundred years. "It means that he'll be sad one minute and angry the next and content right after. He keeps changing."
She laughed and opened a True Blood. "He acts as though he has a woman's monthly bleeding at times. Dear Abby says that you need to let your family work out their problems by themselves instead of trying to fix things all the time. So when he is angered like this I just let him go until he calms himself."
"Do you really think about Eric as being family?" I asked curiously. I knew that I was treading on dangerous ground. Asking a vampire about their past was playing with fire.
"He is my maker," she replied simply. "I have no other."
Pam dug a sleek silver cell phone out of her pocket and texted absently without paying any attention to the keys at all. I assumed that she was texting Artemis to tell her that now was a good a time as it was going to get.
"I can smell the morning already," she pouted.
"Aww," I sympathized. "The itty bitty vampire's bedtime is coming soon."
I walked over to the bar to grab myself a coke not because I was thirsty but because I wanted to stay out of punching range. Eric chose that moment to emerge and seemed to forget whatever he was going to say as soon as he reached me. He snaked an arm around my waist and kissed me.
"I have behaved unbecomingly."
I quirked my head to the side. "Is that your way of saying you're sorry?"
He smirked and gave Pam a curt nod that I had come to understand as the vampire equivalent of a pat on the back, a greeting, an apology, or a dismissal. There were a few days when I really wished I could read vamp minds. I shuddered as I thought about what I might find if I could.
Artemis sauntered in and helped herself to another drink. She laid her bow and quiver on the bar beside Eric. He slid his hand away from them minutely.
"I need to talk to you," she sighed. "Privately. I will need your authority in all of this."
"You will have it," Eric agreed. "My time is shortening as the dawn approaches, so your plan had better be quick."
They stepped into Eric's office and shut the door a little more forcefully than necessary. I glanced at the clock and decided that sunrise should be coming soon. I stepped out the back door to check on the status of the daylight when I heard a stray music note caught by the wind and thrown my way. I scrambled back into Fangtasia and almost crawled into Pam's lap.
"What's wrong, Sookie?"
I suppressed another fit of trembles. "The manticore. It's hunting, and it's outside the door."
